GIOVANNI BATTISTA PERGOLESI (1710-1736): Adriano in Siria, Livietta e Tracollo.

Description: A 1986 live recording on Bongiovanni seems to be the only previous appearance of this 1734 opera on disc, making this June 2010 production at the Teatro G.B. Pergolesi in his home town of Jesi, commemorating the tricentenary of his birth, rather special, especially since Opus Arte is planning to record and release all four of his opere serie on DVD. Like few other operas of the period, Adriano was crafted especially for the castrato Cafarelli, to the point of dumping half of Metastasio's aria texts and creating new ones to exploit the singer's brilliant virtuosity and lyric expression (Comparato is the mezzo who gets this treasure-trove). As at the work's premiere, this release includes the two-part intermezzo performed between Adriano's three acts. 2 DVDs. Marina Comparato, Lucia Cirillo (mezzos), Annamaria dell'Oste, Nicole Heaston (sopranos), Stefano Ferrari (tenor), Accademia Bizantina; Ottavio Dantone. 16:9 anamorphic widescreen. NTSC all regions. LPCM 2.0 or DTS surround sound. 150 min. w/12 min. bonuses.